Washington post confirms what I have said about guns in Europe, criminals can get them easily...

[2aguy]

This article from the anti gun Washington Post points out the myth of European gun control....and confirms what I have said over and over in threads and posts......Criminals in Europe don't use guns as often as American criminals because they choose not to......when they want guns, they can get them when they want or need them....easily....as is confirmed here....

Getting a gun legally in Europe may be hard but terrorists have little trouble - The Washington Post

The problem has been rendered vividly in recent weeks by a pair of deadly assaults that each paralyzed a European capital. In Paris and Copenhagen, the attacks were carried out by former small-time criminals turned violent extremists who obtained military-grade illicit weapons with apparent ease.

In contrast with the free-firing United States, Europe is generally seen as a haven from serious gun violence. Here in Denmark, handguns and semiautomatic rifles are all but banned. Hunting rifles are legally available only to those with squeaky-clean backgrounds who have passed a rigorous exam covering everything from gun safety to the mating habits of Denmark’s wildlife.


“There’s a book about 1,000 pages thick,” said Tonni Rigby, one of only two licensed firearms dealers in Copenhagen. “You have to know all of it.”


But if you want an illicit assault rifle, such as the one used by a 22-year-old to rake a Copenhagen cafe with 28 bullets on Saturday, all it takes are a few connections and some cash.


“It’s very easy to get such a weapon,” said Hans Jorgen Bonnichsen, a former operations director for the Danish security service PET. “It’s not only a problem for Denmark. It’s a problem for all of Europe.”


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So, gun control only works when the criminals cooperate....as soon as they decide not to....they can get guns far easier than the innocent, law abiding citizens who aren't going to use them for crime.....

Gun control laws are stupid if they try to prevent criminals from getting guns....all that leads to are innocent people left defenseless in the face of armed, violent criminals....

 

[2aguy]

And more on how easy it is to get military grade weapons in Europe....

You can find Kalashnikovs for sale near the train station in Brussels,” acknowledged a Brussels-based European Union official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. “They’re available even to very average criminals.”

In the case of the Paris attackers, they were able to obtain an entire arsenal: AK-47 assault rifles, pistols, a Skorpion submachine gun and even a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher. All of it was purchased in Brussels for about $5,000, according to Belgian media reports.


The availability of such weapons in the heart of Western Europe isn’t new. The flood of high-powered weaponry began with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and continued through the 1990s as war raged across the Balkans. Many of the weapons from those periods are still circulating. They have lately been supplemented by an influx from the turmoil in North Africa, with weapons smuggled on ships across the Mediterranean.

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I'm sure European criminals register their guns, only use 10 round magazines, go through a universal background check, go through hours of concealed carry training, and pay the fees associated with owning illegal, fully automatic weapons......right? Before they use the guns to commit murder....right?

 

[Brain357]

Do they still have much lower homicide and accidental shooting rates?

 

[August West]

You don`t need connections or cash here in the U.S. Just break into an unoccupied home or vehicle and you stand a good chance of picking up a freebie. See the difference?

 

[Moonglow]

You don`t need connections or cash here in the U.S. Just break into an unoccupied home or vehicle and you stand a good chance of picking up a freebie. See the difference?

A plentiful supply is always available to those in need...

 

[2aguy]

Do they still have much lower homicide and accidental shooting rates?

Homicide.....the only ones that matter for this discussion are gun murders.....also, homicides where the victim having a gun would have saved their life...or kept them from being beaten, stabbed, raped or robbed.....

They have always had a lower homicide rate than we have had...before they confiscated their guns....unless you include state murder....in which case their murder rate is higher than ours....

Accidental shootings.....not an issue.....people die in cars a lot more...and they have fewer of those in Europe as well....

again...culture and history...not guns....are the problem.....stopping gangs here in the U.S. is one of our solutions....

 

[Brain357]

Do they still have much lower homicide and accidental shooting rates?

Homicide.....the only ones that matter for this discussion are gun murders.....also, homicides where the victim having a gun would have saved their life...or kept them from being beaten, stabbed, raped or robbed.....

They have always had a lower homicide rate than we have had...before they confiscated their guns....unless you include state murder....in which case their murder rate is higher than ours....

Accidental shootings.....not an issue.....people die in cars a lot more...and they have fewer of those in Europe as well....

again...culture and history...not guns....are the problem.....stopping gangs here in the U.S. is one of our solutions....

Accidents are an issue. If they have low homicide rates and accident rates they are doing better than us.